Then, the Fighting Illini were forced to hit the road to start the NIT despite being a top seed in their bracket because Cirque du Soleil was playing at Assembly Hall.

Despite all that, Illinois still was able to beat eighth-seeded Stony Brook 76-66 in front of a loud sellout crowd of 4,423 at Stony Brook Arena on Wednesday night.

"We're still disappointed, obviously," Illinois' Mike Davis said. "But Coach has been talking all week about making something happen in the NIT, just move on to next year as far as getting ready for next year. Just win a championship and learn how to win championships because hopefully next year we can make a run."

Davis led Illinois (20-14) with 17 points, and Demetri McCamey just missed a triple-double with 16 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds. D.J. Richardson also contributed 16 points and Mike Tisdale added 15 for the Fighting Illini, who had been knocked out in the Big Ten semifinals.

Every time Northwestern made a run, Rhode Island had an answer. A 10-point second-half deficit proved to be too much for the Wildcats to overcome as they saw their season come to an end with a 76-64 loss in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.

Michael Thompson scored a game-high 24 points for Northwestern which saw its season draw to a close with a 20-14 record.

"This was very disappointing," said Thompson. "We think we accomplished a lot this season and we wanted to make a strong run in the NIT."

URI (24-9) jumped out to an early eight-point advantage behind eight points by center Will Martell as the Rams surged in front 18-10 eight minutes and 30 seconds into the contest.